Flat planar structures have numerous applications and are found in all walks of life. Often, these structures are too large and too heavy for one person to conveniently move from place to place. Such structures include visual displays of the type used to make pitches at business meetings, to attract prospective customers at trade shows or business conventions, to present educational matter in a classroom or lecture hall setting, and to effectively communicate information in numerous other situations.
Companies often spend large amounts of money on large visual displays for such meetings, shows and conventions. As these displays are often heavy, often consist of several parts and often contain complicated mechanical support structures, carpenters, electricians and other skilled labor may be needed to assemble and disassemble the equipment.
While these types of displays are effective in conveying information, size, cost and assembly and disassembly requirements often make such equipment cost prohibitive for many individuals who require such a display for business or educational purposes. An effective yet smaller scale lightweight display that can be disassembled, transported and re-assembled by an individual is desirable in many situations. For example, if one must give a presentation on Monday in New York and again on Tuesday in San Francisco, one needs the ability to disassemble such a display, transport it himself or herself without the need for a commercial carrier or delivery service, and easily re-assemble the display prior to the next presentation without the need for hiring skilled labor. Similarly, if one must make a classroom presentation requiring charts or other visual aids, one needs the ability to disassemble a display containing such visual aids, easily carry it himself or herself across campus, and quickly and easily re-assemble the display prior to the beginning of, or during, class.
Various displays have been developed to address these needs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,520 to Appleton, et al., relates to a modular panel system, comprised of at least four plastic foam core type panel sections, that disassembles for easy transportation. The panel sections fit together to form a single large panel for display purposes. The panel sections are held together by outer periphery support members around the perimeter of the large panel and by support panels in the rear of the large panel. Each rear support panel is fastened to a group of four abutting panel sections to fasten the group together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,086 Hanlon relates to a segmented display mechanism having first and second display panels of lightweight sheet material. Each of these display panels is divided by vertical folds into a plurality of vertical planar sections. These sections lie in different vertical planes so that the top and bottom edges of each of the first and second display panels extend along a zig-zag path. This zig-zag path allows the first display panel to be supported on a flat supporting surface along its bottom edge. Similarly, the second display panel is supported by the lower first display panel. The bottom portions of some of the sections of the second panel intersect the upper portions of some of the sections of the first panel. This intersection is accomplished through vertical slots in the tops of the first panel sections and vertical slots in the bottoms of the second panel sections. The slots are vertically aligned so that the intersecting sections of the first and second panels interlock against movement in a horizontal direction and provide stability to the display. A third top display panel may be supported by the second display panel in similar fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,046 to Herrgord relates to a lightweight display with upper and lower display sections. Each of the upper and lower display sections has a plurality of individual panels. These individual panels are joined together by flexible plastic hinges and are completely covered with a flexible sheet material so as to form a continuous surface over the multipanel display section. The upper and lower display sections are interconnected by a stiff spline that is inserted downwardly in a slot in the top edge of each panel in the lower display section. The upper edge of the spline then fits upwardly into a slot in the bottom edge of each of the panels in the upper display section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,146 to Kemeny relates to a portable display unit with a plurality of panels connected through hinges along adjacent vertical sides. The hinges include flexible ribbons that extend between opposite faces of adjacent panel units. Upper and lower panel units of the panel display device are interconnected by a plurality of fasteners. One fastener is located on the top of each of the panel units in the lower display unit and fits matingly into the bottom of each panel unit of the upper display unit.
However, certain drawbacks exist with the aforementioned displays. For example, Appleton, et al. relates to a display in which the individual panel sections are held together by support panels in the rear of the large panel. Thus, when the display is disassembled, the individual panel sections must be separately packed for storage and transportation. If material is printed on the fronts of the individual panels, the task of re-assembling the display correctly becomes more difficult and more time-consuming, as each individual panel must be correctly positioned during assembly. Further, because the individual panels are not permanently connected, there is an increased tendency for the individual panels to become lost or damaged. Also, the rear support panels represent additional pieces of equipment that must be stored. These additional pieces of equipment add to the space needed to store the display, making such a multi-part display even more difficult to disassemble, transport and re-assemble.
Hanlon describes a display in which separate interconnected rows of panels are stacked upon one another in a non-planar manner to prevent movement of the rows of panels in a horizontal direction and to provide stability to the display. However, such a display is limiting in that if one desires a flat, planar surface for use as a backdrop display, such a surface would not be possible with the configuration in Hanlon. Further, assembly and disassembly is made difficult because each row, while being capable of being collapsed to a stack of panels having the width of one panel, must be unfolded and placed in slots in the tops of the panels in the row below. Thus, if an individual had to unfold a row consisting of several panels and then place the row of panels in the appropriate slots while holding the entire row, the task would become burdensome and difficult. Such a display may also not be as aesthetically pleasing as other displays, due to the visible slots required in the tops of the supporting row or rows of panels.
As with the display in Hanlon, the displays in Herrgord and Kemeny each have a lower row of interconnected panels joined to an upper row of interconnected panels. It may be difficult for an individual using a display described in Herrgord or Kemeny to align the connectors of the panels in the upper row with the corresponding mating connectors of the panels in the lower row while simultaneously holding the upper row of panels. Further, in Herrgord, the continuous surface of the flexible sheet of material is typically a fabric affixed to the panels which adds to the difficulty of assembling and disassembling the display. The flexible ribbons that extend between opposite faces of adjacent panel units in Kemeny add to the difficulty in assembling and disassembling such a display, as the ribbons would tend to get in the way as one attempted to fit the top panels onto the fasteners on the lower panels.
Providing a collapsible display in which each panel in the display is integrally connected to at least one other panel in the display is desirable for ease of assembly and disassembly of the display. A display constructed in such a manner avoids many of the drawbacks associated with above-mentioned references in that the display, even if collapsed, still remains a single unit. This feature allows for the display to be disassembled and assembled and keeps the individual panels from having to be separated from one another during storage and transportation. However, the individual panels of such a display must be foldably connected in a manner that still allows the display to be collapsed into a compact stack of panels that is easy for an individual to carry onto a plane, pack in a car or otherwise transport without the need to ship it via commercial carrier.
Such a display is described in U.S. Pat. No. Re 30,777 to Ytter. Ytter describes a portable display system having vertically stacked panel assembly groups comprised of an array of panel assemblies. Two panel assembly groups are shown hinged together to form an array of panel assemblies two high by four across. The resulting display system can open and close in accordion-like fashion. With the exception of an inverted "T" at the top center of the 2.times.4 array, the panel assemblies are hinged where their edges meet. This allows the display system to be collapsed to produce a stack of panel assemblies with a frontal dimension of one panel assembly.
As noted in Ytter, the display in the preferred embodiment consists of two panel assembly groups each consisting of a 2.times.2 matrix of panel assemblies. Although Ytter suggests that more than two panel assembly groups may be used, it does not disclose a folding display having a height greater than two panel assemblies. Furthermore, the arrangement of hinged and separated edges taught by Ytter does not lend itself to a taller array of panel assemblies. Thus, the folding scheme taught by Ytter may be limiting in applications requiring a collapsible display having a height of more than two panels.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a planar array of panels interconnected in a manner that allows the array to be collapsed into a single stack of panels, regardless of the number of panels in each row or the number of rows of panels in the array, to facilitate ease of disassembly, transportation, and reassembly.